Trying new things and also Update in Schedule

Hello and welcome to another post of LLG! Today we are going to talk about some things like my schedule and how it will effect posts and updates to my blog and book. I also want to bring up a new method to try and improve my art skills ( I swear I haven't been slacking despite the lack of posts and content...) so lets get started.

First let's start on one of the more interesting parts of today's post. So recently I've trying to use more orthodox methods of art practice such as purchasing the book I did earlier this summer and now using a doll in order to have a mold able pose reference. It is a really good practice and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone trying to get into art but there was one thing I just noticed.

This is a drawing I did quiet a while back and shared on this blog. This was done within the first month of me practicing and beginning of this blog. 

 
This is a drawing done just this weekend almost a year later from the other drawing and is a sketch of the model at the very top of the page. I know its a bit hard to see but comparing the two I can't help but feel like despite the year of practice, studying of techniques and the guide that my skills as an artist are not getting better but rather worse. This does scare me a bit but by no means does it mean I'm going to stop drawing. It just means that I'm going to have to try and figure what works more and follow it and make sure to make time to draw as much as possible ( although finding the ideas and energy are the hard part..).
Anyways that was just the art topics I wanted to bring up in today's post. the next is a bit more happier and isn't about art. So for most of you out there in the U.S. are still in your summer period but as a band student or anyone in a very competitive school activity would tell you that their summer period has ended most likely. This is the very same case for me and having to practicing might drain me a bit. Keyword is " might " as last year I blogged no problem and with practice already starting I am still able to post and have energy so even though this post is a little late don't expect too many delays. However I've really been needing to edit the chapters already written in my book and begin writing the new ones which may be an entirely different story. For those of you who don't know I've started writing a book series on the site Wattpad and in excitement and anticipation of lack of energy and time I wrote the first chapter in an hour and the next 4 chapters the night of that day... That being said much editing must be done to many of those chapters. Also, What made me want to write the story was that I was getting a little tired on waiting on my art skills to make my story idea into a comic series like a friend of mine has done on Tapastic here " https://tapas.io/series/A-Problem-of-Personhood " ( hopefully they won't get made at me for posting the link to their comic in my blog with like 10 viewers...) and its been a good year that I've had the idea for the story so I decided to make it a book here. If you'd like to check it out and give me some things to edit then follow the link to the book here https://www.wattpad.com/story/116417302-the-fates-that-bind-us. I will take any advice other than major changes to characters and story but minor ones are good and things like grammar, word use, diction, etc. are un questionably welcomed. That's all for today's post so till next post I'll see Ya'll later!

I am writing a book!

Hello and welcome to another post of LLG. Today I'd like to announce the start of a book I have begun writing using the Wattpad website and also show off a drawing I never finished because the end result looked worse than the 50% point but I will show the 50% first. So awhile back a friend had sent me a picture of themselves and asked me to draw them along with another person not included in the picture. I began to work on the drawing in photoshop and the person in the picture looked fairly good but it was when I started on the next person that my troubles began. So today I'll show you the person in the picture's drawing but only with the first person and the background was not drawn by me but added for fun.

So yeah, there you go. Lastly, I want to end today's post with the announcement of a series I'm writing on the Wattpad site. Those wanting to check it out can by searching for my username, LLGWriter, and or the name of the book, The Fates That Bind Us. Be warned, all the chapters 1-4 ( 5 being an author note ) were written in one day so it has lot's of mistakes and I've been told that the rushed work is a bit cheesy so expect that... However since I do want to do a two chapter update per week it gives me plenty of time this week to edit the pre-made chapters to be as best as I can ^-^. Also as anyone who reads my blog post will know that I like criticium ( consrtuctive kind ) so if you have any pointers to improve the story that doesn't destroy my pre made plot I'd love to hear it from you guys! That bring us to the end of today's post of LLG. I hope you enjoyed it and till next post, I'll see ya'll later!

 

Stretch and Squash Animation

Hello and welcome to another post of LLG! Now I know that this blog is usually about art and it will stay that way but of all the drawings I made this week have all be terrible so I'm just going to go over some animation concept. So without further ado lets get started with Stretch and squash.

Stretch and squash is a simple animation concept shown in this short ball animation I made. Also as a side note, I'd like to make it obvious that for the first few frames appear faster as I used fewer frames and used Stretch which we'll talk about now. Stretch in animation is when you make an object thinner and longer than it usually is which gives the illusion of acceleration when used in fewer frames. Now if stretch is used to express acceleration than Squash is used to express deceleration. Squash can be seen on one frame where the ball makes the first contact with the ground. This can make the impact very strong and will make any animation way better when used properly. Now for the last frames, I added just one frame of stretch and this is due to the fact that the acceleration was much lower than before and I made sure to use a lot more frames closer to each other as I wanted to make it appear as all the initial momentum was gone as the ball begins to slow down. Now there are much more ways this concept can be used in other situations than just a ball but this is an easy way to introduce the concept and not to mention that my skills in art at the moment barely allow me to draw much and trying to animate that in such a way would just turn out horrible but I am working on it. That's all for today and till next post I'll see ya'll later!

Finally another post in a row!

Hello, my wonderful viewer's to another exciting post by nonother than myself. I am going to try my very best to fill this post with more than just artsy stuff so it can be more enjoyable to more people. Let's get started!
  So first thing first I'd like to bring attention to a very hard debate I have been having within myself for quite awhile ( p.s. If you do not like the topic of video games I suggest that you skip the next couple of paragraphs.). So, recently I got myself a brand new Nintendo Switch console which the process of getting it is a story of its own ( as many know how infamous they are to be sold out everywhere...). So first I had to decide if I wanted the console in the first place. As a major fan of Nintendo and with the announcement/release of games such as Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2 and Mario Odyssey made me want to get the system but, the mixed reviews and of all things the pressure of my parents who not only hate me spending money on nonnecessities and the mention of video games made me think about whether or not I should try to get the system. Eventually ( after the copy of Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild WiiU I was borrowing was given back ) I decided that I was going to try and get it eventually!
  Next, I encountered the challenge of everyone else. Finding a system for sale at the lowest price possible which surprisingly was at retail stores ( at $300) than on sites like Amazon ( up to $500). I checked every time I went to a store and met the same response, " Sorry sir. We got a shipment this morning but we are sold out...". Again and again, I tried to the same result until one fateful day at the Target near my house. " We sold out already but, try calling our site in the morning we can let you know if we have any and you can drop by. ". This was just what I needed and every morning I called to check until I got the response I needed. " yes, we do got some.". That day I bought a Switch which was about 2 weeks from now.
  Sadly, my true debate had just arisen. With little money left ( just went on a trip ) and looking to invest into stock for college ( and to make my parents have trust in me that I'm a responsible young adult) but there was just one problem. I have one of the most advanced gaming systems in the world which potential far exceeds any gaming device ever made! but no games on it... So, of course, I going to get a game but the question is since I am going to be saving money for quite awhile ( meaning other than this last purchase I will not be able to buy anything until I invest) what is a game I can get that'll last awhile for me to get? This will be today's question of the day ( haven't done that in awhile..) and while I've mostly made up my mind on what to get ( Splatoon 2) your responses may change my mind. Anyways at first I thought of getting the Retro bundle known as Shovel Knight Treasuer Trove, which includes all the DLC of the two side games ( SK Specter of Torment and Plague Knights story ( forgot the name )) and the main game with multiplayer options. I was going to go with this but then * sighs * then Nintendo had to make things difficult and release a lot of cool and exciting news and a demo for Splatoon 2... SO, after the past couple of days, I have been asking friend opinions, watching trailers ( no gameplay though or very little ) trying to figure out what to get. The deciding factor came when I thought about how easy it can to get into a session with shooting games and with the new Salmon Run and story mode Splatoon 2 won over so when it comes out I am going to buy it.
  So for all of those who have been skipping the past couple of paragraphs because you're here for art or you just hate games you are in luck! This is the point where I will post some art and talk about it.

This is just a page in my sketchbook of me practicing with things like 3-D shapes, shading, and cylinders. Not that much to talk about in this page other than the fact that the barely visable T.C on the cup I drew stands for Taco Cabana which is the place I got the drink from. That's all for today so until next post I'll see ya'll later!

Not dead....sorry about delays

Hello and welcome to another post of LLG! It's been awhile and I really tried to post every week but I have limitations and could not access the internet on my laptop for quite awhile ( the reason why will not be said however). So with that being said I guess thats the end of this post.... Oh wait, I don't need to use my laptop for sketching art! That's right, even though I've done a lot of my best work on the laptop I still sketch more on paper as I do know that if I want to progress I have to get good at the basic materials ( aka, paper, pencil, pens and etc.) so today will be another post with just sketches. If you're the kind of person who prefers my digital work ( although out of the five people who read this and with my skill level I don't know how you can prefer anything of mine....) I'm sorry, I've started somethings and while I do like to show it of in the progress of my work this one is a bit different as it's for a friend and once it's complete I'd have to ask for their permission to post it because it is a drawing of them and some other stuff. So lets get started!

First off I'd like to spotlight a book I recently bought. This book, " The Complete Book of Drawing ", by Barrington Barber is a massive monstrosity of page after page about making art! As someone trying to get into the art world and not much experience I wanted a physical guide on the study of art and many who've seen my sketch book pics will know that when I learn of new techniques I write them down in my sketch book. I do watch a lot of videos on youtube but at times it can be frustrating cause I like to have still pictures and words to read rather than video and people talking which is why I bought this book which honestly to me is kinda like a textbook for school but with art ( I know that some schools may have actual textbooks for art but I don't have that TvT). I first saw this book at the art store Michaels for $20 but I bought it used on Amazon for on $5 so it is really worth it and you should check it out.

Enough free advertisement! Lets get into the sketches! This first pic is of the first page of my new sketchbook ( left my old one at a relatives house...) So I decided to fill it up as much as possible with a flurry of sketches. I should point out though that the millions of circles to the left are my sisters multiple attempts at making a perfect ( or close to ) circle and the five on the right hand side are my attempts. As you can barely see I did make one in just 5 tries. Next on the top left side was a pose I saw online and I drew ( copied ) in order to try and practice a bit and have some fun drawing some funny poses. The eye drawing on the top middle with the words fail on top of it is my attempt at a realistic eye which looks much better on the screen than it does on the paper... The weird shapes all around the page ( mostly on the top right ) are some warmups I was practicing from my new book. Lastly in the middle of the page there is my tasty attempt on a cake...didn't go so well....

This next page is a lot less hectic than the last. The first drawing on the top left is an eye that I tried drawing.... Next below that is a drawing I tried to do from scratch of a person's face and shoulders which I tried to make as many details as possible. The last one on the top right is one I was drawing from a scene of a movie but it isn't finished so it's missing a lot of details.

This last page has only one drawing at the moment but it is an important one as it is a practice of shading 3-D objects again from the book. Anyways thats all for the sketches for today and until next post I'll see ya'll later!